The 5 Best Hospitality Marketing Books You Can Buy
After 30 years in hospitality, I've developed a healthy distrust of so-called marketing experts.
Most have never carried three plates, balanced a wage budget, handled a Friday night no-show disaster or tried to fill a dining room on a wet Tuesday in winter.
The good news is that not every marketing book is written by someone who's never put in a shift.
Some books are born of a genuine understanding of the pain, fear and doubt that live inside every food & beverage business.
The five books below have genuinely influenced the way I think about hospitality, customer experience and marketing. Some are hospitality books. Some are marketing books. A couple are neither.
What they all have in common is that they've helped operators understand a simple truth:
The best marketing doesn't convince people to visit once. It gives them a reason to come back.
Here are the five best hospitality marketing books I've read. Whether you're a restaurant owner, venue manager or hospitality professional, these books will help you attract more guests and build a stronger business.
1. Unreasonable Hospitality – Will Guidara
Where can I buy this book? Click on the image to find out.
If you only buy one book from this list, buy this one.
Will Guidara tells the story of turning Eleven Madison Park into one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world. The lesson isn't about social media, SEO or advertising.
It's about creating experiences people can't wait to tell their friends about.
Hospitality operators spend a lot of time chasing new customers. Guidara reminds us that the easiest marketing often comes from delighting the customers already sitting in front of us.
Every venue owner I've recommended this book to has called me afterwards and said some version of:
"That wasn't a marketing book at all."
Exactly.
And that's why it's the best marketing book on this list.
2. The Restaurant Marketing Mindset – Chip Klose
Where can I buy this book? Click on the image to find out.
Unlike most restaurant marketing books, this one doesn't immediately jump into Facebook ads and Instagram hacks.
Instead, Chip Klose asks a more important question:
Why should people care about your restaurant in the first place?
It's a thoughtful book that focuses on positioning, branding and understanding your customer before spending a cent on advertising.
Too many venues try to market themselves before they've figured out what makes them different.
This book helps fix that.
3. Setting the Table – Danny Meyer
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Danny Meyer has built some of the most successful hospitality businesses in America.
What makes this book worth reading is that it's really a book about relationships.
Relationships with guests.
Relationships with staff.
Relationships with suppliers.
Relationships with the community.
Marketing departments often talk about building loyalty. Meyer shows what loyalty actually looks like in practice.
The book is packed with stories that will resonate with anyone who's ever managed a restaurant, café, bar or hotel.
4. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism – Philip Kotler
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This is probably the least exciting book on the list.
It's also one of the most useful.
Kotler is often called the father of modern marketing and this book applies his thinking directly to hospitality businesses.
If you've ever wondered why some venues seem to attract exactly the right customers while others spend a fortune trying to be everything to everyone, you'll find the answer somewhere in these pages.
It's not a beach read.
But it will make you a better operator.
5. The Referral Engine – John Jantsch
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This one isn't a hospitality book at all.
But hospitality businesses live and die on referrals.
Whether it's word of mouth, online reviews, recommendations from friends or local reputation, referrals are still the most powerful marketing channel most venues have.
Jantsch explains how businesses can deliberately create systems that encourage customers to spread the word.
For hospitality operators, that's gold.
Because the best marketing campaign in the world will never be as persuasive as one happy customer telling ten friends where they had dinner last weekend.
Final Thoughts
The biggest mistake hospitality operators make is thinking marketing starts when they open Instagram.
Marketing starts when someone books.
It continues when they arrive.
It matters when they order.
It matters when something goes wrong.
And it matters when they leave.
The best hospitality businesses understand that every interaction is marketing.
The books on this list all teach that lesson from different angles.
Read them, steal the good ideas and ignore the fluff.
That's what I've done.
